The Estevan Bruins got three goals from rookie forwards Saturday to defeat the Weyburn Red Wings 3-1 and salvage the split in a home-and-home series against their Highway 39 rivals.
A third-period comeback fell short Friday in Weyburn in a 5-4 loss.
The split helped the Bruins (6-3) hang onto first place in the Sherwood Conference entering Tuesday's game against Yorkton, with the Red Wings (4-5) sitting in fourth.
Bruins head coach Keith Cassidy felt his team had a little more jump in Friday's loss.
"(On Saturday) I think we executed a little better, but we didn't quite have the life that we did in the game (Friday). But it's funny how things work like that," he said.
At Spectra Place on Saturday, the Bruins got on the board at 12:29 of the first when Tanner Froese knocked a rebound past Mitch Kilgore for his fourth goal of the year.
Barely two minutes later, Carlyle's Ben Johnstone scored his first SJHL marker on a play that began with a hit he threw in the Bruins' zone.
"After that hit, I was pretty excited because I love hitting. I just went down, the puck came out and I just buried it," said Johnstone, who was playing with 19-year-olds Michael Hengen and Ryan Ostertag.
Cassidy said he was surprised that the contrasting styles of those players resulted in some chemistry.
"It seems like a dog's breakfast of a line, but they seemed to be able to figure something out. Ben looked really comfortable out there," he said.
It was Johnstone's best game as a Bruin as the diminutive rookie dished some big hits and was one of Estevan's top players.
"I just like to finish my checks, no matter what. If the guy's big, I just go in faster or harder and hopefully they fall down and I don't," he laughed.
Fellow 18-year-old Taylor Reich gave the Bruins a 3-0 lead with his third of the year only 26 seconds into the second period.
Weyburn got on the board late in the second when Coltyn Sanderson deflected a Dylan Coupal point shot and Bruins goalie Steven Glass got part of it, but it bounced off his shoulder into the top of the net.
But Glass held the Wings at bay in the third period to preserve the win.
"He was lights out. I can't say enough. He made some huge saves," Cassidy said of his rookie goalie, who earned his third win.
"What I really liked about his game was they were trying a lot of the in-tight, jamming stuff and he was holding his ground and fighting to see through traffic."
The Red Wings outshot the Bruins 30-28.
On Friday, the proceedings appeared to be over after two periods as Weyburn took a 4-0 lead on goals by Jesse Ross (2), Jack Kennelly and Keegan Bruce.
"We couldn't score in the first two periods and we had lots of chances. The flip side of that is we gave up some ridiculous scoring opportunities. But I thought the effort was there and I was pleased with that," Cassidy said.
But the coach tinkered with his lineup between periods, taking Calder Neufeld off the top line with Cole Olson and Dylan Smith and replacing him with Austin Daae.
The result was fireworks as the new line scored four times in the third period.
Ryan Whitell's goal at 11:34 of the third proved to be the difference for the Wings, but that didn't stop the Olson line from putting on a show.
Olson scored early in the period and Smith followed that up with a hat trick. Daae assisted on all four goals.
"They had a lot of fun in that third period. They were playing with no worries on their shoulders. We had nothing to do but try to come back in that game," said Cassidy.
"It was a bit of a shakeup for the guys. We got some good energy out of it."
The Bruins are in Yorkton tonight before returning home for the SJHL Showcase this weekend. After that, they host the Melville Millionaires on Tuesday
